Avery Odelle Craven, historian of the American South, of agriculture, and of the causes of the Civil War, is best known for his "revisionist" interpretations of these subjects. "Revisionist" aptly describes Craven, for his most influential writings appeared during a vital transitionary period of American historiography. Such past masters as Edward Channing, William E. Dodd, Albert Bushnell Hart, Frederick Jackson Turner, and Ulrich Bonnell Phillips influenced Craven greatly. By the late 1930s, however, he increasingly came to challenge their views. This, Craven often explained, was not only natural, but mandatory. While his mentors also wrote during times of social change, Craven was profoundly influenced by dramatically different forces--the Great Depression, the New Deal, World War II, and the Cold War.

Craven was born in Lincoln Township, near Ackworth, Iowa, the son of Oliver Craven, a farmer, and Mary Elizabeth Pennington Craven. For years historians wrongly assumed that Craven...